Mark Zuckerberg beats Julian Assange to Time's 'Person of the Year'

Time announced that the recipient of the coveted Person of the Year award would go to Mark Zuckerberg, despite Wikileaks‘ Julian Assange winning the public vote by a massive landslide.

Not to have an unnecessary pop at the Facebook founder, who recently made a generous charitable donation, but it seems odd that the nominee in tenth place should win over the landslide Assange took.

Zuckerberg’s Facebook has obviously taken grip of the world in recent years in a way that few could have expected, but why not give him the prize a couple of years ago? One would have to look to The Social Network, perhaps.

It seems like Time’s editor, who chooses the winner from a voted shortlist, maybe took the easy option by going for the smiling young face of social media who received 18,353 votes compared to the infamous Assange who is in the news for the wrong reasons at the moment.

Assange himself received a staggering 382,026 votes. He’s caused a revolution across the world in a bid for free speech and accountability, potentially putting his life on the line for a very noble cause. The controversy that surrounds him could explain Time’s decision.

Instead Time went for the man who re-imagined “poking” and brought the world a platform for Farmville.

Of course, looking too much into a public vote can be dangerous. The proof’s in the pudding when peering further down the list. The site of Glenn Beck’s name alone is enough to elicit a shudder, while the appearance of the shiny foreheaded David Cameron is equally inexplicable, though he has also made a career of winning elections without receiving a majority of votes.